Bitwise, a crypto asset manager, has disclosed the fee schedule for its upcoming Solana staking exchange-traded fund (ETF) in its recent filing with the SEC, indicating a 0.20% fee. The news is a competitive move as several companies wait for regulatory green light to launch a multitude of crypto ETFs.
In an amendment to the registration statement filed on Wednesday, Bitwise mentioned that a 0.20% fee would be charged for the Solana Staking ETF. The announcement prompted a reaction from the industry analysts, with Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst, characterizing the action as “not playing around.”
Balchunas pointed out in a tweet on X that he was initially expecting the fees to be higher and said: “Low fees have a near perfect record of attracting investors so it is a good sign for inflow potential.” The bold pricing move makes the Solana ETF comparable to spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. These also had fees of around 0.20% at the time of their SEC approvals last year.
However, their offerings are more traditional in nature, which might suit enterprises looking for basic functionalities rather than innovative edge solutions. Still, they are a good option for foundational blockchain work.
The Solana ETF is one of the numerous digital asset investment products that aim to benefit from institutional and retail demand. In the last year, various issuers have submitted proposals for ETFs that are linked to a wide range of tokens such as Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Solana. The SEC under the Biden administration had already given the green light to spot Bitcoin ETFs and subsequently to Ethereum ETFs after a game-changing court ruling by Grayscale had a major impact on the regulatory landscape.
Nevertheless, the potential green lights for the next wave of products have been put on hold due to the recent U.S. government shutdown, which led to the SEC being in limited operations. As per the agency’s guidance, only “an extremely limited number of staff members” are still available to handle the most pressing matters, thus the ETF decisions are temporarily on hold.
21Shares on the very same day announced changes to its Ethereum ETF, among which there was the launching of staking and a one-year sponsor fee waiver. The company pointed out the feature as a method to offer investors the opportunity to access the yield-generation of the Ethereum protocol, which is a sign of the rising competition among the issuers to lure the capital.
